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tv   FOX News Sunday With Chris Wallace  FOX News  November 18, 2012 11:00am-12:00pm PST

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♪ captioned by closed captioning services, inc >> eric: i'm chri i'm chris wallace. david petraeus tells congress what he knows about the benghazi attack. ♪ ♪ >> chris: in a series of closed door hearings, lawmakers investigate what happened before, during, after the assault that killed four americans. we get the latest from saxby chambliss, vice chair of the senate intelligence committee. joe lieberman, head of the homeland security committee. then, republicans look to regroup after a disappointing election. does the party need a new message or better messengers? we talk with two leading governors. bobby jindal of louisiana and scott walker of wisconsin.
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plus, the president and congressional leaders try to pull back from the fiscal cliff. with 44 days and counting, we'll ask our sunday panel can a deal be made in time? and our power player of the week. killing us softly with her song. all right now on "fox news sunday." ♪ ♪ >> chris: hello, again, from fox news in washington. we'll talk with our guests in a moment. first the update on the tense military situation on the israel-gaza border. fox news correspondent leland vittert is on the scene with the latest. >> reporter: there is no question, this is a country on the brink of war. behind me are tankss maneuvering waiting for the order to head to the gaza strip. the iron dome intercepted
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rockets today but there been a dozen israelis injuried in the attack. the airstrikes continue to pound away. 70 palestinians dead. the israeli air force say they hit 1,000 targets so far. the ground war is just getting ready. the tankss armored personnel carriers moving to fighting position so far. there are 30,000 reservists drafted awaiting orders that could come in 24 to 48 hours. the israeli envoy that is in cairo and involved in peace talk. islamic jihad and trying to bring about cease-fire. back to you in washington.
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>> chris: joining us now two leading senators. saxby chambliss, vice chair of the intelligence committee. and joseph lieberman head of the homeland security committee. i want to ask you both about the rolling conflict between israel and palestinians in gaza. senator lieberman, israel has to be able to defend it, do you worry about a ground war in gaza, especially in this changing post arab spring middle east? >> ultimately, this is in the first instance of hamas, i don't think the israelis want ground war. they are going to go in to gaza if they feel they need to, to eliminate the remainder of missiles. a lot of which supplied to hamas by iran that have been coming oaf to israel. hundreds of them this year.
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so the decision to up to hamas. remember what hamas is. it's not palestinian authority recognize right of israel to exist and diplomatic relations with israel and us. it's a terrorist group. it seized power in a coup from the palestinian authority. they're bad actors. no nation would put up with what israel has up until now. the situation all over the middle east changed in the last year. egypt no longer run by pro-american dictator and run by leaders of the president brotherhood. should president obama put pressure on the egyptian government. threatening to cut off aid to get them to stop firing rockets? >> they should exert any pressure they can to make sure it doesn't escalate. to a full blown war between
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the palestinians and the israelis. you know, whatever that takes. now the problem the israelis have is that the rockets are being fired on them from places that they can't reach by flying over in the air. putting them in cool yards where they are surrounded by school children. firing from marketplaces. that are crowded with people. israel has a right to protect itself. sending ground troops in, is the only way they can clean out the nests of the rockets fired at them. you can't blame them for doing it. >> chris: all right. turn to benghazi. both of you held closed door hearings this week with top administration officials. and david petraeus, reportedly said in the closed door hearings that while he always believed that terrorists were behind the attack, that the administration watered down the talking points, that susan rice ended up using because they didn't want to tip off the terrorist they were on to
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them. let me start first with you, senator chambliss, because you were in a closed door hearing with petraeus. one, did he say it? if so, do you believe it? >> petraeus did not say that in those words, chris. i did not interpret anything he said to be that. general petraeus number one is obviously a great man and a great leader. both from the military standpoint and with role at the c.i.a. what he did say is that day one, we knew it was a terrorist attack. there was no question about it. you don't bring automatic weapons and rpgs and mortars to so-called demonstration. still are some questions that are yet to be answered about the planning of this. whether it was done over a period of time or whether it was truly a spontaneous reaction. there is no indication now that it was anything other than a planned attack. >> chris: do you have an
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understanding why the talking points changed over the course of the first week? the white house said yesterday they made one change in the talking points. that was to change the word "consulate" to diplomatic facility. >> it was interesting, chris, at the hearing we had on thursday and friday, we had every leader of the intelligence community there. including folks from the state department, the f.b.i. everybody there was asked do you know who made the changes? nobody knew. the only entity that reviewed talking points that was not there, was the white house. i don't know what they said yesterday. is exactly right or not. but what i do know is every member of the intelligence community says references to al-qaeda were removed by somebody. they don't know who. references to attacks versus demonstrations were by somebody. >> chris: let me ask you a
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question, will your committee the senate intelligence committee call ambassador susan rice to ask her to testify? >> i don't know the answer to that question right now. senator feinstein andly talk about that. we have two more hearings scheduled where we have a list -- >> chris: do you think should be called? >> she will syste have to come n and testify at some point. closed or open hearing. we'll have an open hearing, too. but at some point she needs to come in and say what the white house directed her to say. >> chris: dianne feinstein, the democratic chair of senator chambliss' senate intelligence committee read the unclassified talking points to reporters and she says they show that susan rice was sticking to the talking points. do you bye that? >> i looked at the talking points. the committee heard testimony from the intelligence committee. important that during the first week after the attack on the mission in benghazi, the
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initial opinion, they kept saying it was initial of the intelligence community was that there had been a protest before the terrorist attack. nobody could deny it as saxby said, it was terrorist attack. that's what the talking points reflected. whether they used names like al-qaeda or ansar al-sharia. i must say as i look at what we now know that the intelligence community was saying that week and i look to ambassador rice's statements on television on the following sunday morning i don't find anything inconsistent between those two. but i must tell you that i think we are focusing on questions that are not insignificantly but not the most significant. of course there was a terror attack. whether or not there was a protest before is interesting but not that critical to me. there was a terrorist attack. the question is who did it?
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and much more important for the long run why in the midst of a rising crescendo of intelligence that they clear al-qaeda and the ansar al-sharia, radical groups coming to eastern libya in the surrounding of benghazi did we leigh our state department personnel there without the security. why when they were attacked did the defense department not have ask security to come to their defense. >> chris: you hold closed door hearings with the top officials. somebody said good luck with lightning round. after meeting with the top, this isn't to the point. i promise we get there.
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are you satisfied with them not notifying congress or the administration about the petraeus' affair until as late as they did, which was last week? i still have questions about that. the f.b.i. developed an important cyber security capacity, important to our country. second, they have got this -- >> chris: we are on a lightning round. >> lightning round. >> i haven't answered that to my satisfaction yet. i understand why they would keep an f.b.i. investigation confidential from everybody until they saw a crime. but this suddenly involved two of our highest ranking generals, petraeus and allen. i think that was a different circumstance. i still have an inclination to believe somebody should have notified the white house early in the investigation. >> chris: senator chambliss, are you satisfied that the personal affairvoing general petraeus did not affect either one the way he conducted the
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whole benghazi matter an two his testimony to congress either back in september or this week? >> i have seen nothing to indicate that it had any impact on his decisions he made relative to benghazi or any other issue for that matter. >> chris: and something, no impact on his system? >> no. >> chris: there is some suggestion that he is towing the line in september to keep the job. >> i don't think there was any indication in his testimony on friday of that. he has always been straightforward. he was straightforward on friday. >> chris: all right. senator chambliss, this is one of the issues that senator lieberman was raising, with all the warnings, beforehand who do you feel is responsible for the failure to beef up security. at the benghazi consulate before the attack happened? >> i think that is a question yet to be answered, chris. we have to get the state department officials in to explain why you send an ambassador unguarded with a few libyan guards.
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and the c.i.a. was not there to guard him. >> chris: didn't you have patrick kennedy one of the top state department people? >> he did. that is not his function to determine security, though. we have the right person coming in for the next hearing to talk about that. i'm sure that joe and susan will do likewise. we got to find out from the different, are the state department about why decisions were made relative to the security. they obviously were inadequate. woefully inadequate. >> let me ask you, both in this regard. secretary of state clinton has not testified. is that someone you need to hear from? >> she has agreed to come testify and she needs to. >> it's very important. >> what we know now about the intelligence of the terrorists in the vicinity of benghazi, it was irresponsible to have the state department personnel there with only three security guards. they were easily overrun in the attack of september 11. either we should have given
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them protection they deserved or we should have closed that mig in benghazi as the -- mission in benghazi as the british government had done a short while before. second point is important one. we are cutting back and supporting the defense. during the war in libya against gaddafi we had ships offshore. if the ships were still there, they could have sent research to knock out the second round of terrorist attack -- >> chris: i want to the you that. in the seven hours between the terrorist, consulate and c.i.a. attack on the c.i.a. annex. given forces we have on the ground. could they have done more to protect u.s. forces to the u.s. personnel and prevented the last two -- >> the answer is we didn't have resources in range. secretary petraeus and dempsey acted quickly but they had to
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get somebody from spain and croatia. group of special operating forces to the u.s. arrive much too late. if we had, they sent a drone but unarmed drone. if we had an armed drone, in that dangerous part of the world, it probably could have knocked out people firing the mortars that killed the two seals. >> chris: given what we had there, you are saying -- >> there was no capacity to defen our personnel. in a timely way once the attack occurred. we can't let that happen again. part of what we have to do to make sure it doesn't happen again is we adequately support our defense budget. >> one question there, too, the d.o.d. or the state's fault? we don't know the answer. >> chris: finally, we got a minute left. senator mccain a graham called for a special congressional committee to investigate benghazi. take a look at what graham had to say.
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>> water gate benefited from select committee. iran contra benefited from a select committee. >> i want to ask you both briefly, do you think we need -- let me start with you, senator chambliss. do we need a special committee for? or can your standing committees do it? >> these two guys are two of my best friends wetch travel a lot together. to dangerous places. committee within the united states senate are capable of investigating this. in the right way. >> i agree with saxby. this is tragedy. let them think about a special committee. >> chris: senator lieberman, retiring from congress at the end of the year. 24 years.
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speculation, i know you are not, you haven't nan close to the president. there has been speculation. has there been talks with the administration about your taking over the top spot at state, at c.i.a., any talks about it? >> there are no talks apt not what i'm planning. as i said before when this comes up, president of the united states asks you to serve your country that i love and believe in so deeply, you have to give it serious consideration. i am not waiting by the phone. i don't expect a call. >> he has my vote for confirmation for any of the above. >> chris: senator lieberman no, more but you may be back in a few months secretary lieberman. >> it would surprise me but it would always be good to be with you on the fair and balanced sox sunday show. >> chris: there you go. i i wasn't angling for that.
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senator chambliss, thank you both. stay on benghazi and the conflict in gaza. thank you both. >> thank you. >> chris: up next, two leading republican governors take a hard look at what their party needs to do. before it faces voters again. in time r christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. ♪ [ camera clicks ] ♪ it's hard to resist the craveable nature of a nature valley sweet & salty nut bar. for their annual football trip. that's double miles you can actually use. tragically, their ddy got sacked by blackouts. but it's our tradition! that's roughing the card holder. but with the capital one venture card you get double miles you can actually use.
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>> chris: after a disappointing election day, no surprise republicans do soul searching. what is a surprise is how serious it's gotten. joining us to talk about the future of the party, governor jindal of louisiana, the new chair of the republican governors association, in his state capital of baton rouge. from san diego, wisconsin, governor walker, the new vice chair of the rga.
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he attributed the defeat to president obama giving out jindal reacted sharply to that. take a look. >> given extraordinary financial gifts from the government. >> i reject that. we have to stop being the stupid party. we have to stop making stupid comments. >> chris: so what was stupid about what romney said? >> i am proud of the campaign across the country but i reject what he said. >> you don't have to insult people, we are ans spir
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rationable party. let democrat say degrok rafy is destiny and we'll divide people by race and gender and class. this is not just a marketing campaign. >> chris: governor walker take look at the exit poll from election night. 43% said romney. how do republicans convince the middle class you are looking out for them? >> we see them in governorship. you have 30 states with republican governors. there is a trust factor there.
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we need to be a party that talk about it and we need to take the message, a winning message. i bet the republican governors and we take it and we go out to where people are. we have a message that works for young people and works for people that come to country from other countries. everyone in the country living their piece of the american dream. it starts with the governors as great messengers. >> chris: governor gipped jindjindal,what are about the de going on if washington now about the fiscal cliff? president obama says look, let's extend the bush tax cut, lower tax rate for 98% of all taxpayers, including the middle class.
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why would about middle class voter look at that and say these guys, the g.o.p. are all about protecting the rich? >> we are not the party of big, big banks, big bail-out. we are for a lower, flatter, simpler tax code. there are ideas to limit reduction for wealthy and limit carve-out. we need to make it clear we are not if party to protect the rich. they protect themselves. we want pro-growth policies. let the democratic party be growing, government growing revenues. grow the private sector economy. it can still be progressive. get rid of the calf-out and special treatment. when it comes to a fiscal cliff.
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i was in congress. we need structural changes. they have a super majority vote before they raise taxes. without structural changes we are not getting anywhere. this is kicking the can down the road. we don't need to abandon principles. >> chris: governor walker look at the optics of it. they will lower taxes republican mantra for 98% of mens and the republicans are saying not so fast. bill kristol was on the show and he said it wouldn't kill republicans to raise taxes on
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millionaires a little bit. is he wrong? >> if you look at the conflict between washington and the state house, that's where those of white house are new governors inherited budgets as state and balanced them without raising taxes. the state like wisconsin, we cut taxes in the past two years and revenues have gone up. most americans look at what is happening in washington and think they are missing the boat. the economy is a much bigger issue. don't get me wrong. they need to balance the budget. take care of fiscal issues. more importantly we need to get the economy going and get people back to work. that disproportionately affects the middle class now. the fact they talk about anything that might make it worse for the economy is bad sign about what is happening in washington. >> chris: let's talk briefly. i run in a time crunch here in a minute so i'll ask you for quick answers on specific groups. the problems that your party had on election day with
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hispanics has been well documented. 71% voted for obama. 27% for romney. for walker, does your party need to rethink where it stands on the dream act in an the whole issue of the 11 million illegals who are in this country? >> we need to find a way to move forward. we wantbe more people who want to live the american dream. the country is based on immigrants. we have to find a way to welcome immigrants in. before i was for, i was a milwaukee county executive. historically i would want hispanic leaning person for the county because i had a message that resonateed with everyone. small business owners and choices whparents who want theio prevail. if we share it with all the voters we i'll do better with the hispanic voters or any other voters out there. we will do well because we have a message of prosperity
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and freedom for all. >> chris: look at unmarried women who backed obama by a wide margin. unmarried women voted for obama by margin of 67% to 31%. governor, you say to republicans don't change principles, modernize, don't moderate. you to know during the campaign the democrats hammer your party when it came to freedom of choice on abortion. when it came to access of birth control and funding planed parenthood. how do you convince unmarried women you are looking out for them? >> chris, a couple of things. one, we can be true to principles. i'm pro-life. i follow teachings of the church and faith. we don't need to demonize those who disagree with us. others came to conclusion. have a zil debate. we don't need to say student
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things. we have candidates that hurt themselves and hurt the republican party across the board. we can be true. the majority think the democratic party is likely to cut taxes on the republican party, we have a problem with the single women and middle class voters and across the country. we have a serious problem making sure that the voters understand what we as a party stand for. once we get back on track, we are a party for the middle class that helps with the female voter and every voter out there. >> chris: we have less than a minute left. you are voting for the feds to come in dopped this and my question is would you agree w the president re-elected obamacare is here to stay.
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>> it is the law. we pointed out in our state and some democrats feel like options given to comply with the law, state run partnership. refer to the government. the state run option is a state in name only. it provides the same stimulations. utah state has an exchange can't use the exchange to qualify for federal program. so, in the end, if it is state in name only we'd rather have the federal government to do it as much as it pains us living in federalism, in the end better they do it than incur additional cost to taxpayers state run exchange would expose us to. >> chris: governor walker and jindal we have to leigh it there. we'll have you back to do it. tracking where the two of you try to take the party in the coming months. thank you. up next, israel prepares for a possible invasion of go san antonio and congress investigates the benghazi terror attack. we'll ask the sunday group
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>> chris: benjamin netanyahu making it clear he won't allow hamas to fire rockets to israel. time for the sunday group. crist of "the weekly standard." bob woodward from the "washington post." as well as the author of a new book "the price of politics." kimberly strassal of the "wall street journal." charles lane from the "washington post" also. i think we'd all agree when militants are raining missiles down on your country, any government is going to defend themselves.
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a fab weeks ago this was longer and messier and thousands of people were killed. how tough a call for netanyahu to go in on the ground for gaza? >> they would prefer not to go in on the ground. the big difference this time is the obama administration that began to distance itself from israel. first term supporting israel. that is an interesting evolution on obama. hopeful one. >> chris: there are other differences, too. hamas has longer range missiles. middle east is different from 2012 of the middle east of 2008. the arab spring. run by the leaders of the muslim brotherhood. what are the challenges for israel and the u.s. now? >> if you look at the foreign
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policy portfolio that obama is facing. we still have problem of pakistan and iran. libya is not a stable situation. it only amplifies the problem. this is a dangerous world. it will get some hold on exactly what the policies are. what is the degree of toughness that we are going to employ? that is still in doubt. they held flurry of closed door sessions with the top administration officials. best as you can tell, because they were closed door, what did we learn about the administration actions before, during and after the attack? >> there were comments about whether it was a video or
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terrorist attack. you heard an argument maybe it was a hybrid. there was initially a protest in cairo. this inspired the militants to act. in benghazi, also heard a lot of talk whether or not susan rice was talking about classified or unclassified talking points. another theory they knew it was terrorism but they watered it down because they wanted time to pursue who it actually was. bobottom line, week after it happened the administration sent susan rice out to say vide. even though it's clear they knew all along it wasn't. that question has not been answered even as a as a result of the hearings. that has to be a question going forward. will itvo her testifying? >> chuck? >> we may never get to the bottom of this. question of the discrepancy of the facts and the talking points. the president said at the debate, memorably, i said it was a terrorist attack the next day in the rose garden. remember that? there is even kind of a so what quality determining susan
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rice didn't call it one. nothing that i have seen that has come out of the hearing clarifies what went wrong. what does this tell us about the approach of the light footprint that obama recommended -- >> chris: explain what that means. i haven't heard that phrase until today but it is in the paper. >> the idea that once we had gaddafi out in libya, we weren't going to go in with a big new presence, huge new diplomatic installation. we'd do more with less as it were. >> chris: not just in lib yeah. all over. >> chris: that is applied across the region as well.
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there was an interview in south america and she has been absent so far in the hearings. maybe less on timeline and more on the question of why these diplomats were undefended. so vulnerable with all the warnings beforehand. >> she will answer questions. she didn't realize how vulnerable they were. i think the c.i.a. did not want a diplomatic footprint in benghazi. they were running complex operation out of the annex there and didn't want to -- want to keep it low profile. ambassadorsteins maybe should haven't take an risk to go to benghazi. but i'm not sure about that and ultimately it was a mistake. senator clinton leave office.
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he will deal with a new team. came in and hillary clinton secretary of state, inherited bob gates of secretary of defense and kept him. inherited petraeus. >> chris: as someone who has more than a passing acquaintance with scandals where do you think the so-called libya scandal is now? >> i think there are serious unanswered questions. that they should have watergate style independent commissions to investigate this, i don't see it yet. the question is what did susan rice know and when did she know it? that is not high on the scale of we need to get to bottom of this. i think we will find out what happened. i think we should. you never know what this is
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going to show. but the real issue is libyan policy. the light footprint might or might not be the answer. so this is all going to be mixed up. i kept think new sam irving will appear on the scene. or howard baker to investigate this. at this point it doesn't fall to that scale. >> chris: we have to take a break but when we come back, they meet on the fiscal cliff. surprise come out sounding optimistic. are they really? ♪ [ male announcer ] you've reached the age where you don't back down from a challenge. this is the age of knowing how to make things happen.
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my hope is this the beginning of a fruitful process to come to agreement to reduce the deficit. >> we are serious about solving the fiscal dilemma and cutting spending. i believe we can do this and avert the fiscal cliff that is in front of us today. >> chris: president obama and speaker boehner sounding upbeat about prospects to cut a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. after the panel and congressional leaders met at the white house, rhetoric was reassuring. the question is: is it real? do you get a sense, bob, this is the subject of your new book, that they do see or beginning to see a path to compromise or are they trying to reassure the nervous consumers before the christmas holidays?
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nervous investors because the stock market has gone down 1,000 points. >> symp nervous about this. the next six weeks could be the six weeks that shook the united states if they don't fix this. there is clearly a new move. the way they will this is hostage exchange. otherwise, republicans are determined not to let the tax rate goes up. the president is determined or is determined to get more revenue. and it's possible to do this. and the president is going along with some idea of entitlement reform that we are going to actually cut spending. this is really -- they are going to have to -- they are lagerhead on the tax issue. i'm not sure how they fix that. the new mood is not enough. you have to sit down and do the numbers. >> chris: well, we're going
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to have kim explain that to us, because she works for "wall street journal." i mean, that is at least the initial immediate big sticking point, taxes, republicans say. i was surprised right after the election. we will put more revenue on the table and do it by closing loopholes and limiting deductions. the president made it clear. you got to raise the tax rates. didn't say up to 39.6%. clinton tax rates but raise it on the wealthy. how do they reso resolve that in six weeks? >> it depends whether the president is willing to bend. there is reason for optimism. we have a framework. if years the democrats say you have to give us revenue. after the election, boehner said okay, have some revenue. the president has moved the goalpostsment and said it isn't just revenue. it those be a specific kind. my liberal base -- >> chris: wait. he did mention this once or twice in the campaign. >> but the question is are you going to stick on what you campaign on or find a compromise in the end?
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if you are looking for votes in congress -- boehner may be able to get enough to go along and do a deal to get revenue from closing the deductions and loopholes. he is not going to get the people to go along raising rates. there is the rhetoric the president engaged in on the campaign and then there is reality of washington. he is going to have to compromise on that to some degree if he wants a deal. >> chris: so does he have to compromise or do republicans compromise? >> first, i don't understand where the republicans think they have leverage here. you have seen that in tent whichs not just by boehner but people elsewhere. re-knew saying okay, we are going to let there be more revenue. but the president is doing right now makes sense. kim may disagree but he has the upper hand. he is saying okay, republicans say you are for more revenue, show me how. show me details. not enough for boehner to say okay, there is more revenue. she squeezing them.
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he is making them sweat. negotiation and normal and natural. whether it will result in agreement or not in the next six weeks i doubt but they will get to transitional thing. >> lo and behold, boehner offered more revenue last year. made it clear. $800 billion over ten years. th is what they are discussing now. what they have to do in the next six weeks is come up with what they call a down payment. they will do spending and do something to get more re-knew in a way acceptable to both sides. >> let me explain what came out of the meeting on friday is two step compromise.
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$50 billion by the end of the year and a promise with triggers they would achieve a grand bargain. next year, the major tax reform and entitlement reform. how realist is that two-step approach? >> realistic. there will be a deal. republicans will yield on the top rates. president obama ran twice and won. >> chris: you made news last week when you said it wouldn't kill republicans to raise the top rate. you were favorably cited not by name but the news conference by the president. >> bad, bad moment. >> chris: shot your credibility. >> these things happen. >> chris: what was the reaction? from the republicans. >> private reaction from the republican congress was very conservative ones was i don't know, do we really have to give in? maybe we do. maybe it's good you said that.
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we need to cut a deal. he didn't raise the rates correctly in 2009. we were in the midst of a horrible downturn. republicans had a huge off-year in 2010. bargain to a status quo deal. i don't think the republicans have leverage or worth using the leverage they have to maintain the rates at 35% instead of 37% or 38%. especially if you take it to millionaires. i don't think it's economically important enough. then the big deal is lore tax rates. >> chris: 30 seconds left. this is a suspect of your book. how optimistic are you that they make a deal and avert the fiscal cliff? >> let's hope they do but they will burn bill kristol's tea party card to hear him talk like this. off the reservation. >> a lot of tea party don't care that much if millionaires pay a couple more in taxes honestly. >> chris: you are optimistic? >> you have to be. if this isn't fixed we vehicle a global catastrophe. >> chris: on that happy note, thank you, panel. see you next week. wouldn't it be good for sunday
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sunday. check out the panel plus where the group picks up with the discussion on our website. foxnewssunday.com. we will post a video before noon eastern time. mange sure to follow us on twitter -- make sure to follow us on twitter. @foxnewssunday. up next, the power player of the week. ♪ [ male announcer ] it started long ago. the joy of giving something everything you've got. it takes passion.
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>>. >> chris: she has been part of soundtrack of our lives for more than 40 years. her songs of love and loss reflect her own life. here is our power player of the week. >> i'm still here. >> at age 73. roberta flack is still here. still cap elevate go audiences with her magical voice and music. it started so easily.
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back in 1973 she won the grammies for song of the year first time ever, i saw your face. >> chris: what was that like to hit it big? >> scary, frightening and unbelievable. is this me? >> chris: year later she won the grammies again for "killing me softly." two years in row roe you have the song of the year and record of the year did you think it's going on forever? >> you always do, why not? >> chris: she stopped recording. three years you didn't release an album. >> i don't think i had anything to say. >> chris: she had serious throat problems but as she says, she is still here. 40 years after her big break she has released beatle songs,
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inspired by living next to john lennon. >> the a wall of my computer room was the wall of his computer room. >> it's hard to imagine hard to imagine her journey. she grew up in northern virginia but started piano lessons at age nine. six years later she had a music scholarship to howard university. >> what are you doing in college at the age of 15? >> i don't know. i could have gotten there at 14 but they said i was too short. >> chris: flack was classicly trained. six years ago she started the roberta flack school of music and charter school in the bronx. >> you can become the next
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beyonce or barbra streisand. >> she still takes voice lessons ♪ >> you keep polishing 8 the tool. you keep warming it up and shining it and making it brighter. i wanted to sing until i can't sing anymore and play until i can't play anymore. >> chris: the excitement when you get on the stage? >> the song. ♪ >> chris: she hopes to open more music schools here in washington and in barbedos and she intends to keep on singing. this program note, next sunday, john mccain joins us to discuss the libya investigation and fiscal cliff and more. we hope you'll tune in. have a great thanksgiving. we'll see you